Checkmate?
by quillsand
Summary: Hermione is trying to study but Ron won't let her concentrate. He wants to play chess, of all things, and he's not going to stop bothering her until she gives in. Why is he so eager to play chess anyway?


_A/N: The amazing weasleywrinkles of tumblr came up with this drabble idea and had the kindness to let me write it! This story only exists thanks to her awesome headcanon, so all credit to her for that :)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the actual plot of this particular story. Basically, I own nothing. At all. _

* * *

He was an idiot. A complete and utter idiot. All she wanted to do was finish her report on the Werewolf Legislation Act of 1967 for her work, but Ron wasn't letting her have any peace. It was always 'Do this Hermione' or 'Do that Hermione' or 'I broke something Hermione'. She was sick of it. The report was due in 10 days! Didn't Ron understand the importance of not getting behind in paperwork? But then again, he wouldn't understand her need to get things done on time, would he? Being such a talented procrastinator himself, he'd leave everything until the very last minute, do it all at once instead of breaking it into little, manageable pieces like herself.

It was a wonder he'd survived handling all the paperwork and reports needed to become an Auror. She'd never had thought it possible of him back in their Hogwarts days. It proved that he could do it, if he tried hard enough and put enough effort into it. Despite what most people thought, Ron Weasley was actually a very intelligent person if he applied himself. Yes, it was true that Ron had matured an awful lot during his training to be an Auror, but it was also true that he could be a complete immature git at times.

Today was evidently one of those times. She was trying to work and he was bothering her. Just because they both had a day off from work, it didn't mean there weren't things to be done. He could make himself useful in any number of ways. She seemed to recall the bedside lamp still needed replacing and the headboard repairing. But, of course he wasn't interested in that. No, the question he kept pestering her with today was, of all things, 'Will you play chess with me?'. He had asked no less than 6 times in the past hour alone and she had refused every single time. She hated playing chess with Ron, mainly because he always won (and he wasn't particularly modest about it either). She had work to do and she was going to get it done.

Right now, Ron was sprawled out on their couch lethargically and had taken to giving a melodramatic sigh every few seconds. Hermione was counting down the minutes until he would present her with his next inquiry, and sure enough-

"Hermione, will you-"

"No." she deadpanned.

"You don't even know what I was gonna say!" he protested indignantly.

"Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea, Ronald." she said acidly. Hermione saw Ron gulp at the use of his full name and smiled to herself.

The peace and quiet that ensued only lasted a couple of minutes before-

"Hermione," Ron began tentatively, "Will you play chess with me?"

Hermione didn't respond; she figured ignoring him would be much more effective than instigating a row, a reaction she was pretty sure he was hoping for anyway.

The silence stretched on between them, the only sound being that of quill scratching against parchment. Ron was staring at her intently and as much as she despised her reaction, she couldn't stop herself from blushing under his gaze. It was quite distracting.

"Hermione?" Ron asked again, his voice barely above a whisper. She remained silent.

"Hermione?" Ron said, his voice getting louder as his confidence grew, "Play chess with me?" he inquired almost innocently, flashing her his winning smile. It took all of her willpower not to cave in at that point. _Damn that face is attractive. _Realising that she hadn't written anything in almost a minute, Hermione decided that the only way to move forward was to remove the distraction.

Gathering her books and quills, Hermione headed for the spare room her and Ron had converted into a kind of study. It was a small room, because of the size of the flat, but it would do. She could lock the door and there would be no more distractions.

As she got up, the look on Ron's face was one of glee, before he saw that she was headed the opposite direction to the chessboard.

"Where're you going?" he asked, looking almost panic stricken.

Hermione balled her hands into fists, "Away from you, Ron! I can't get any work done when you're around pestering me like this!"

"Hermione, rela-"

"Do_ not_ tell me to relax Ronald Weasley! I will _relax_ when I have finished this essay!"

"Maybe if you had a game of chess first...?" he left the question hanging and trailed off, for Hermione looked livid. Her hair had fallen out of it's neat braid and her eyes were practically alight with anger.

"Ron," she spoke his name acidly and he recoiled slightly, "When I have finished my essay. Then I will play chess with you. Okay?" she said all of this through gritted teeth and a sort of forced calm. Ron looked terrified and she congratulated herself for achieving her intent.

"Yeah...Okay, I just...I'd just really prefer it if we played sooner rather than later?" he squeaked, cautiously, knowing she was on the verge of an explosion.

"Why?" Hermione demanded, intrigued. She could forget about her anger for a minute if it meant learning the reasons behind her boyfriend's somewhat odd behaviour.

"Errmmm..." Ron looked like a deer caught in headlights, "Well, you see, the thing is..."

Hermione sighed impatiently, "Out with it Ron."

"Doesn't matter." he muttered sheepishly and started to retreat to the bedroom.

Hermione frowned. While Ron was a complete and utter idiot, he'd never been this weird before. Maybe he was ill? No, she'd seen him ill, and while it wasn't pretty, it wasn't like this. And besides, he wasn't acting odd, just different. Something she couldn't quite place her finger on was happening here, and she knew she wouldn't be able to finish her essay until she found out what.

Hermione gave a resigned sigh and called out to Ron, "Fine! Fine, we'll play chess!"

She heard his whoop of delight before she saw him come running out of their bedroom, a face full of pure glee, already carrying the board.

* * *

"Are you letting me win?" Hermione asked her question as she took yet another of his pawns.

She studied his reaction carefully as Ron looked up, breaking his focus on the board in front of him. So far, the match was pretty even, Ron had both of her knights as well as two pawns, whilst she had his bishop and three pawns.

To make the game more interesting, Ron had proposed the idea of answering a question every time they lost a piece to the other player. Hermione had refused at first, her pride would already suffer from the blow that losing would deliver, she did not need to suffer further mortification. Until he had said she was a coward. She knew it was just an attempt to bait her into it, but she had to accept. Hermione Granger did not back down from a challenge.

"'Course not," came the quick reply, "Why'd you think that?"

"Because we seem pretty evenly matched, but you've usually got me in checkmate at this point." she explained. It was true. They'd been playing for half an hour and Ron seemed to be concentrating much harder than usual.

"Yeah, well... I'm trying new tactics you see." he said vaguely.

"Why?" was her next question.

"Ah, ah, ah, no more questions until next time you get one of my pieces, remember?" he teased.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him as he smiled nervously. Grudgingly, she set her eyes back to the board and surveyed the game. Ron's remaining bishop was unguarded, but she must be missing something because Ron was not the type to miss something like that. Hermione squinted at the board, desperately trying to see it through Ron's eyes. If she could only see it the way he did, not a game to be won, but a battlefield to be conquered. After staring at the pieces for a frustratingly long amount of time, Ron moved his bishop directly in the path of her queen.

Hermione frowned, she was missing something. He had a plan. He was trying to trick her somehow. Well, she wasn't going to fall for it. She moved her queen to the left, safely out of harm's way and stared back into Ron's dumbfounded expression.

"Why'd you move there?" he asked unbelievably.

"'No more questions until next time you get one of my pieces, remember?'" she mocked, copying him from earlier. Ron groaned and then went back to intently studying the board.

Hermione was losing concentration at this point, trying to beat Ron in chess was mentally exhausting. Chess was a game of knowing your opponent and being able to predict ahead. Ron could predict ages of moves ahead, he had the end in sight from the minute she moved her first piece. She could only plan 2 or 3 moves ahead, and that was only if she concentrated fully.

Hermione was lost in her thoughts when Ron cleared his throat to get her attention. She looked back to the board to see he had moved his knight so that it was one move away from taking her rook. She cursed under her breath and studied the board again.

The game went on like this for a while, and each time her or Ron got the other's piece, they'd always waste the question on something trivial like: 'Why'd you move there?' (Ron), or 'When will you fix the headboard?' (Hermione).

Eventually, there were only a few pieces left on the board, and the game still looked pretty close. Ron was left with his bishop that was currently guarding his king, both his rooks and a few pawns, placed strategically to block Hermione's pieces. Hermione still had her queen, and a knight, as well as the pieces blocked by Ron's.

It was Ron's turn and he seemed to be calculating his move very carefully. Hermione was anticipating the move that would end the game, but it didn't come. Instead, Ron moved his bishop clean out of the way to take her pawn on the other side of the board, leaving her queen free to take his king.

"You can't do th-" she began to protest, but he cut her off.

"I get to ask you a question, I got your piece." he stated.

"Yes, but you can't mo-"

"Hermione," Ron spoke her name softly, but there was an edge to it, as if he were nervous, "In one move, your queen can take my king. Think about that carefully before you move, okay? I'm perfectly happy for you to take me, but what matters is what you want." he paused to take a shaky breath.

"Ron-" Hermione started, not entirely sure he was still talking about chess, but she was cut off again.

"I love you, Hermione. Have done for years and... Bloody Hell. You're beautiful, you're intelligent, you're funny, kind, caring, did I mention beautiful?" Ron let out a nervous chuckle and lifted his head to look into her eyes. Hermione felt shivers erupt all over her body at what that look did to her. Blue eyes stared into brown as Ron continued speaking.

"You have been the most important part of my life for a while now, and there's nothing I want more than to start a family with you one day. Hermione, you are my everything, okay? I know I'm immature sometimes and I must be bloody annoying to live with, don't know how you do it to be honest, but, when it comes down to it, I would do anything for you. I love you, Hermione Jean Granger. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, if you'll have me. I want to tell you that you're beautiful every single morning when you wake up, even when you're old and grey, you'll still be the most beautiful thing in the world to me. I want to cook and clean for you, I want to watch those old muggle films you like and read you your favourite books. I want to give you everything you deserve and more. I want to love you until my last breath." at this he gestured towards the chess board, "All that's left is your say. Checkmate?"

Hermione looked down at her queen diagonal to his king and a smile began to play on her lips. She took the white queen piece in a shaking hand and moved it opposite his king.

"Checkmate." she said in a whisper, knocking over his king and taking the tiny figure in her hand. Hermione gasped as the king piece seemed to disappear at her touch, leaving behind an elegant silver band with a modest blue diamond on it. Hermione looked up to find Ron staring anxiously back at her, and smiled reassuringly.

"I love it." she said quietly, only just noticing the tears running down her cheeks. Ron walked around the table to her and wiped her tears away before gently sliding the ring onto the fourth finger of her left hand.

"I love you," he said simply.

"I love you too," she sniffed and moved around the table to him, "I love you so much."

They stood looking into each others eyes for what felt like forever. Hermione was elated, tears of happiness still making their way down her cheeks, as she looked up into her fiance's cobalt blue eyes. Ron looked down at her with so much love she felt her heart melt, and her mind was suddenly invaded by thoughts of weddings and little red headed children. Her mind opened up to the reality of life with Ron and how much she was looking forward to it.

"Bloody hell, we're engaged." Ron finally broke the silence; he said it like he couldn't believe it was true.

"We're going to be married!" Hermione squeaked, and unable to hold it anymore, leapt onto Ron and began kissing him with everything she had. He kissed her back softly yet passionately and muttered a gentle 'I love you' onto her lips. The kiss began slowly but built up until it was nothing but fervent passion and incoherent mumbling. Ron's hands met at the small of Hermione's back, pulling her closer to him, whilst she entangled one hand in his hair, the other trapped between their bodies.

Ron gently loosened his grip on her and broke the rhythm of their kissing, his mouth moving over hers slowly and lightly before breaking the contact with her lips altogether. Hermione frowned up at him, unsure as to why he had stopped. Ron smirked at her, and before she knew why, he grabbed her by the thighs and lifted her up so she was level with him. Hermione instinctively wrapped her legs around his torso and put her arms around his neck as he carried her off towards their bedroom.

As she lay there afterwards, Hermione Granger reflected that maybe, just maybe, Ronald Weasley wasn't such of an idiot after all.


End file.
